Parenthood
by aannikaa
Summary: What happens when overprotective Harry learns that his fifteen-year-old daughter wants to bring a boy home over Christmas holidays? Read and find out.
1. Chapter 1

"Ron!" Harry Potter bellowed through the open front door of his best friend's house. "Ron!"

"Bloody hell!" Ron Weasley clambered down the staircase directly in front of the door. Half his face was covered in shaving cream and he held a muggle razor in his hand. Harry reflected silently that in almost thirty years of knowing him, Ron remained as predictable as a broken clock as far as his choice of profanity.

"You've got to help me!" Harry cried, leaping forward in urgency as he suddenly remembered what had brought him to his best friend's house at eight o'clock on a Wednesday morning. From his pocket he procured a piece of parchment, already creased and wrinkled though it had arrived only yesterday. It was a letter from Harry's fifteen-year-old daughter Lily, who would be returning home from Hogwarts in two days for Christmas.

"What's the matter?" Ron asked, his eyes widening slightly as he looked uneasily at the letter in Harry's hand. "Who's that from? Did something happen?"

"Yes!" Harry yelled, aggravated that Ron hadn't grasped what was happening, forgetting that he, Harry, had not yet told him anything. In frustration he waved the letter over his head. "I need to sit down," he declared before leading his best friend through his own house and into the kitchen. Wishing Hermione hadn't been called into the Ministry early that morning so she could help him with their friend, Ron walked to the sink and hurriedly washed the shaving cream from his face, leaving him with an absurd half-beard. Harry hardly noticed this, though. He began pacing back and forth across the hardwood, muttering to himself as he went.

"Mate, what happened?" Ron asked, staring at his best friend as though he had gone mad.

"Lily sent us this last night," Harry said, handing the letter to Ron, who took it warily. It looked like a pretty standard letter and he glanced at it while wondering whether he should seriously talk to Hermione and Ginny about taking Harry to St. Mungo's to be evaluated by a healer. Merlin only knew how much trauma The Boy Who Lived had gone through. It seemed now as though Harry was finally cracking. Or was this what a midlife crisis looked like?

"Well?" Harry prompted, ceasing his pacing to cross his arms and look expectantly at Ron, interrupting his friend's musings. The redheaded man shuffled his feet.

"One more second," he said sheepishly, hurriedly looking down to scan the letter. It was relatively short, scrawled onto a piece of parchment in Lily's bubbly, girlish handwriting.

 _Mum and Daddy,_

 _This week has been alright, although Professor Boot assigned us a ghastly essay in transfiguration. Really, I don't know why teachers do such horrid things like that, it's just mean. I almost forgot to tell you in my last letter so I'll mention it now, but I want to bring Josh by over the holidays so you can meet him. You'll love him, he's wonderful. Write me back and tell me what days we can have him and I'll let him know._

 _Please make sure you remind Grandma Molly I don't like nuts in my Christmas fudge._

 _Also please tell Al that he's not allowed to call me Ginger._

 _Lots of love,_

 _Lily_

Ron looked up to find Harry's green eyes staring pointedly at him, clearly awaiting a reaction.

"Er, are you angry she doesn't like nuts in her fudge?" he asked tentatively, handing the parchment back to Lily's father, whose distraction was beginning to seriously worry Ron.

Harry snatched the parchment and moved forward, shoving the letter back under Ron's face and jabbing a particular line with his index finger. "She wants to bring a boy to the house!" he yelled, half angrily. He poked the line again, as though trying to physically remove the boy's name from its contents. "She wants to bring this Josh to the house and have me and Ginny meet him! My Lilybean has a boyfriend, Ron! What do I do?"

"Oh Merlin," Ron breathed, finally grasping the gravity of the situation. He lowered himself into one of the kitchen chairs. Harry followed him. Both men sat staring at each other. After nearly thirty years and several battles together, they were still completely inept at understanding or handling teenage girls.

"What do I do?" Harry asked again. "Ginny thinks I'm mental, she said to just have the bloke over and be nice to him, but I can't do that! What if he—well we already know—Ron this idiot wants to date my daughter! _My_ little girl!"

"It can't be too different from when James started going out with that Alison girl a few years ago, can it?" Ron asked faintly.

"Yes!" Harry responded swiftly, glaring at his best friend. "This is much different. Lily is my daughter. And this Joshua Wood bloke wants to just come in—"

"Hang on," Ron interrupted, gaping at Harry. "Joshua Wood? As in Oliver Wood's son?"

"Er, yes," Harry said, cursing himself inwardly for accidentally sharing that particular detail. "Yeah, it's Wood's kid."

Ron snorted. "You're this worked up about Lily bringing home Oliver Wood's son? Really, Harry, she could do much worse."

"That's not the point!" Harry said hotly, banging his hand down on the table. "How would you feel if it were Rose?"

The smile slid off of Ron's face. "That's completely different—Rosie is—she doesn't—"

"She doesn't yet," Harry corrected. Ron continued to stare at his friend, his own horrified expression mimicking the one Harry had worn minutes earlier.

"Harry, do you remember how big of gits we were fifth year?"

"Yes!" the green eyed man said emphatically, relieved that Ron finally understood. "And my daughter— _my_ Lily—wants to bring one to the house so the family can meet him. And then they'll probably snog and do Merlin knows what else and then she'll get pregnant and have to get married and be gone forever!"

"No, we can't lose Lily!" Ron cried, now looking quite as deranged as his friend. "She's the best one at wizard chess, not even the boys can beat her!"

"What do I do?" Harry asked, bringing the letter out again and opening and closing it repeatedly in agitation.

"I don't know, er—" Ron cast around for a suggestion, his eyes flitting around the spotless kitchen. "Maybe just talk to him or something?"

Harry nodded, mulling over the idea. "Yeah," he muttered, half to himself. "Right…talk to him. And say what?" he looked up at Ron again expectantly.

"Er," Ron stalled. He hadn't planned on coming up with a script for Harry. "How about something like 'oy!Llittle fucker, stay away from my daughter!"

Harry stared at him. "Ron, they're fifteen," he said finally.

"Well I'm just trying to help!" Ron yelled in frustration, slumping in his seat. "We'll figure something out," he said finally. Harry nodded and rose, striding to the opposite wall.

"Do you have anything to eat in here?" he called across the room, his head buried halfway into a cupboard. "I'm bloody starving, skipped breakfast to come over here."

"Nah, Hermione's supposed to go shopping tonight when she gets back from work," Ron answered. "Fancy a trip to the Leaky Cauldron? We can stop at a muggle restaurant on the way."

Harry grinned and closed the cupboard. "I already said I wasn't coming in to work today," he said. "Might as well make the most of the day off."

"Excellent," Ron replied, jumping up and moving to fetch his jacket from the closet in the foyer.

They were halfway out the door when Harry seized his friend by the shoulders and spun him around, shaking with laughter.

"Oy, what was that for?" Ron yelped, wrestling out of Harry's grip.

"Go shave!" Harry said, doubled over with laughter. "You look like a bloody idiot with only half a beard!"

* * *

 **Author's Note** : I just got the idea of Harry freaking out over the idea of Lily Luna dating and decided to run with it, and this is what came of it. Please review! Depending on feedback, I'll either leave this as a one-shot or continue it into a multi-chapter story. Tell me what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note** : I'm going to make this a multi-chapter story! I don't have a huge plan for where this story will go so please review and tell me what you like/dislike and also if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear what you guys think!

* * *

"Ginny!" Harry called when he and Ron entered the Potters' house later that evening.

"I'm in the back room!" his wife shouted back. Together, the two men walked through the house and found Ginny, and to their surprise, Hermione, curled up on the sofa, Ginny was cleaning the room with her wand and Hermione was rifling through a thick cookbook which Harry recognized as one of Ron's mother's.

"What're you doing here?" Ron asked his wife in surprise, his eyebrows shooting up his forehead.

"I came over to talk to Ginny for a bit," Hermione said briskly. "I got home early and you were gone and when I asked Ginny if she knew where you were she said Harry had gone over earlier but she hadn't seen either of you since. So I came here. I figured either you would come by later or Harry would."

"Right," Ron muttered. After twenty five years of marriage, he still marveled at Hermione's logic. "Well, er, Harry's got a problem, Hermione."

"I told her," Ginny cut in, picking up an issue of Witch Weekly sitting on the coffee table and thumbing through it. "She agrees with me that he's mental."

"I am not mental!" Harry cried defensively, pulling out Lily's letter once again and brandishing it in front of his wife and friend. Neither woman so much as glanced at him.

"She's fifteen, Harry, she's old enough to have a boyfriend," Hermione said, turning down a corner of a page.

"That's not old enough at all!" Harry countered. "She's only a year older than fourteen and fourteen isn't that old!"

"I was fifteen when we started going out, Harry," Ginny said reasonably, still not taking her eyes off the magazine. "And it's Wood's son." The redheaded woman now looked up and smiled at her husband, a wicked gleam in her brown eyes. "Personally, I think he's rather a safer boyfriend for her than you were for me my fifth year."

"I—" Harry sputtered, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. "I wasn't a dangerous boyfriend!" he said finally, turning to Ron for support. "And that's completely different, Gin. You're you—you had six older brothers. And I'm me! You knew I wouldn't do anything to you!"

"And you think Wood will do something to Lily?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow. "Harry, you've met Oliver. You had him as a quidditch captain. You really think he would take crap from his kids? Do you really think his son is that bad?"

"Well, no," Harry allowed. "But still, Lily isn't like you, Ginny!"

"You're being ridiculous, Harry," Hermione said. "Lily has older brothers too, and you know James is even more protective over her than you are. Honestly, between the boys and you and Ron I'm surprised Joshua even agreed to come to the house over holidays."

"He can't come to the house!" Ron shouted suddenly. His face had gone very red and he turned to address Hermione directly. "Imagine if it were Rose, Hermione," he said, employing the same scare tactic Harry had used with him, though unfortunately with less impressive results. The corners of Hermione's mouth turned up in a smirk as she continued to flip idly through the cookbook.

"I'd be thrilled if Rose found a boy like Joshua Wood," she said, the smile growing bigger as she paused. "After last year with Scorpius.."

" _What?_ " Ron shrieked, jumping forwards and leaning down so his face was level with his wife's. He had surpassed red now and his forehead was edging on a shade of puce which Harry vaguely recalled as seeing on Uncle Vernon's face several years ago. "Malfoy's kid? What about him? Did he touch her, did he threaten her? I'm going to apparate over there right now and talk to McGonagall.."

Hermione sighed and finally set the cookbook on the coffee table. With her thumb and index finger she pinched the bridge of her nose. "One day," she said in a resigned voice, "you will finally read _Hogwarts: A History_ and get it through your head that _you cannot apparate or disapparate in Hogwarts, Ronald_. And even if you could, you aren't going anywhere near that school! This is why Rose didn't want you to know."

"Know what?" Ron demanded, his voice shaking. Harry sent an alarmed look towards Ginny, but she was still sitting on the couch, watching her brother and friend in their spat with rapt attention.

"They were…I don't know…talking for a bit," Hermione said patiently, folding her hands in her lap. "Nothing ever came of it, though. And now it's done."

"But—you— _Malfoy?_ " Ron choked out, unable to concoct a coherent sentence.

"Yes and I suggest you hold your tongue about it when you see her if you ever want to hear any news before she gets married," Hermione said loftily, picking up the cookbook once more. "You always overreact."

"I don't—we're talking about Harry now!" Ron cried, his face still an alarming shade of red. He turned to Harry, who was jolted from his role as spectator as Ron pointed towards the parchment still held in his hand. "Our Lilybean is bringing a boy home!"

"So?" Hermione asked.

"So what do I do?" Harry asked, the panic returning in full force. "I can't let a boy go out with Lily!"

"Yes you can, Harry Potter," Ginny spoke up fiercely, glaring at her husband over the magazine. "You can and you will. Don't you dare ruin this for her!"

"I wasn't going to—"

"You were going to ruin it somehow."

"But Ginny, I have to do something! I don't want Josh Wood waltzing into my house and thinking he has a right to…I don't know…snog my daughter in front of me or something."

Ginny let out a short, harsh laugh which she quickly bit back. "That's what you're scared of?" she asked, her eyes dancing with mirth as she looked at Harry, whose face was still arranged in its crazed look of desperation.

"Well and—other things," Harry mumbled, looking down at the floor.

"Harry," Ginny began.

"He's going to take her away, Ginny!" Harry interrupted. "He's going to take away my little girl!"

"Yeah," Ron added emphatically. "And then I'll have no one to play chess against!" Ginny looked as though she were going to laugh again. She actually did burst out laughing when Hermione stood up with a stony face and whacked Ron smartly on the head with the cookbook in her hand.

"Oy, what was that for, woman?" Ron demanded, angrily rubbing the lump on his head.

"You are such an insensitive wart," his wife said tartly, lowering herself back down onto the sofa.

"I am not!" Ron started to argue but Harry cut him off.

"Ginny, he can't come!"

Mrs. Potter sighed heavily and set her magazine down on the coffee table before rising and wrapping her arms around her husband's waist. She looked up at Harry's face, which was so distraught, and smiled tenderly at him.

"He's going to come, Harry," she said softly. "And you're going to be nice to him. My dad was always nice to you, wasn't he?"

"Yes," Harry admitted, thinking back to how kind Mr. Weasley had been to him over the years. "But he knew me first! I didn't just barge in and try to take his daughter away—"

"No one's taking Lily away," Ginny said. The tender smile on her face gave way to narrowed eyes as she glared at him fiercely. "And I swear to Merlin, Harry Potter, if you listen to this idiot," she pointed to Ron, "or come up with some half-cocked plan to get Joshua Wood away from our daughter, I will personally take it upon myself to make sure you're sorry."

"Yes, dear," Harry muttered, not wanting to agree but at the same time not wanting to find himself on the wrong side of one of Ginny's hexes, which he had witnessed enough times to fear them.

"Good," Mrs. Potter said, releasing her husband gesturing to Hermione. "Shall we start dinner, then? You and Ron can eat with us. We'll keep an eye on them."

"Excellent," Hermione agreed, rising and following Ginny into the kitchen.

"Well, mate, there goes that," Ron said somberly, turning to Harry. Harry sighed and sat down on the sofa with his hands on his knees.

"I still don't like this at all, Ron," he said.

* * *

 **Author's Note** : So there it is. Again, please review and send in suggestions, comments and complaints; I'm still not sure what direction I want to take this in. Thanks for everything, love you all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** I meant to update this story a while ago and never got around to it, so I sincerely apologize for the wait. Thanks to everyone who favorited/followed/reviewed this, you are all wonderful human beings!

Harry sat in the kitchen, pretending to read the Daily Prophet while Ginny prepared dinner, as Ron and Hermione were coming for dinner with their kids. Neither one spoke, but there was a buzz of anticipation in the room. Their three children were all returning home that evening for the holidays.

"What time are you going to pick them up?" Harry asked his wife for the sixth time in twenty minutes, checking his watch. "You don't want to be late."

"They won't be here until five," Ginny said, not bothering to look up from the self-stirring pot on the stove. "I've told you that at least four times now."

"I know," Harry said, pulling a hand through his hair. "Do you reckon you should go early? Or should I go with you? Or should I go so you can cook?"

"Harry," Ginny said in exasperation, walking over to her husband and taking his face in her hands. "Stop worrying. We've been doing this for nine years now, I think I know what time I have to pick up the kids from the train station. And you've never been this worried before."

"I just want to make sure everything goes right," he said defensively, allowing his wife to kiss him on the cheek.

Ginny chuckled and sat down beside Harry at the table. "So none of this sudden paranoia has anything to do with the fact Lily wants to bring a boy over?"

"Ginny, what if she comes home pregnant?" Harry cried, the worry he had been attempting (unsuccessfully) to conceal now exploding from him. "What if she comes home pregnant because of that Josh bloke? Or what if she likes him more than me now and won't want to watch the comics in the Prophet with me? What if she doesn't want to do anything with me anymore?"

"Harry, that won't happen," Ginny said quietly, placing one of her pale, freckled hands on top of his large, calloused one. "I'm sure Lily will still want to do all those things with you."

"But, Gin," Harry began, but his wife had already stood up and was walking back to the stove, where the contents in the self-stirring pot boiled enthusiastically.

"Harry, really," Ginny admonished, waving her wand over the pot. "You have to trust Lily a little more than that. She's your daughter, she loves you. You're being ridiculous about this whole thing."

"How can you be so sure?" Harry demanded.

Ginny sighed. "Just wait until she comes home and you'll see that I'm right," she said evenly.

Eventually the time came for Ginny to apparate to Kings Cross (she left ten minutes early in order to appease her husband). Harry sat at the kitchen table, feeling jittery and wanting the house to be filled with the voices of his wife and children.

There was a faint pop and Ginny stood in the kitchen once again, this time with a black haired boy and a red haired girl in tow.

"Daddy!" the fifteen year old girl sprang forward and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck.

"Hi, Lilybean," Harry said happily, embracing his daughter and squeezing her until she giggled.

"Mum said you're going _ballistic_ ," Lily said dramatically, pulling away from her father and looking at him warily.

Harry shot Ginny, who was making a show of straightening Albus' collar, a dirty look.

"I'm not going ballistic," he assured Lily. "I was just a bit worried from your last letter—"

"Oh, about Josh?" Lily asked, her brown eyes widening as she looked between her mother and father. "Don't worry, Daddy, he's lovely. You'll like him. He said he's sorry he couldn't come straight from the train station, but his mum and dad wanted to see him first. But he'll be here before six, he said, which will give everyone plenty of time—"

"Six o'clock _tonight_?" Harry cried, jumping up. He looked wildly from Lily to Ginny. "Gin," he addressed his wife slowly, "did you tell Lily she could bring her—friend—for dinner tonight?"

"Yes, dear," Ginny said innocently, attending to several knives chopping various vegetables. "I thought it would be nice for us all to meet Lily's _boyfriend_ straightaway."

"Ginny—"

"Daddy, is it not alright if Josh comes?" Lily peered at her father curiously, her brown eyes widening into the puppy-dog look which Harry had never really been able to say no to.

"I—" he began, watching as his daughter stuck out her bottom lip into a pout.

 _Damn it,_ Harry thought to himself, cursing the strange power of his little girl and her wide eyes and pouts that always got the best of him.

"No, it's fine," he sighed.

Lily squealed and rushed to hug her father again. "Oh, this is perfect, Daddy! He's great, and he's on the quidditch team! You and mum and talk to him about that!"

Harry watched as his daughter skipped out the kitchen then, her red hair bouncing behind her.

"Er, hey Dad," Albus said cautiously, moving forward to catch Harry in a half hug.

"Hi, Al," Harry said gruffly, thankful for the steadiness and lack of puppy dog eyes in his seventeen-year-old son. "Sorry about that, Lilybean bringing a boy home is—"

"I know," Albus said, grimacing as he turned towards the stairs his sister had just run up. "Mum said you were going a bit mental. It's okay, I about had a fit when Rose first told me."

Harry nodded, about to comment, when the front door burst open.

"Hello!" the belligerent welcome of Harry and Ginny's eldest echoed through the foyer and James waltzed into the kitchen, holding a bag in one hand and an unopened bottle of mead in the other.

"Hi Mum, Dad," James grinned, setting the bag on the table and handing the bottle to Ginny, who had run over to greet her son.

"Hi, Jamesy!" Mrs. Potter cried, enveloping James in a hug, her head only reaching to his shoulder. "I didn't think you would be home so early!"

"I got to leave a bit ahead of schedule and caught the Knight Bus," the boy shrugged, smiling down at his mother.

"Good to see you," Harry said, moving to hug his son.

"Hey, Al," James smiled and gave his younger brother a thump on the back. "How's seventh year?"

Albus made a face. "Ghastly," he said. "I have half a mind to just leave and work at the Leaky Cauldron so I don't have to worry about N.E.W.T.s anymore."

"You'll do no such thing!" Ginny called from the stove, where she was once again attending to the self-stirring pot.

"I know, Mum," Albus said, rolling his eyes. "It's just so bloody terrible."

"Watch your language," Harry warned, ignoring James' snigger. "I don't want your sister picking up those words."

"Dad, Lily curses more than me and James combined," Albus protested.

"Don't tell your father that, he'll never believe it of his favorite," Ginny said, grinning as Harry immediately began to sputter defensively.

"I don't—you know—boys—I don't have a favorite!" he cried.

Ginny and the two Potter sons all rolled their eyes. "Dad," James said, clapping his father on the back and grinning down at him, "we love you, and we know that you love us, but it is well established that Lily is your favorite."

"It's true," Albus nodded in agreement.

"The puppy eyes do mad things to you," Ginny chimed in.

"This is ridiculous," Harry grumbled, planting himself in a chair. "I don't—"

The front door slammed open again and Harry jumped, pulling his wand from his pocket. Slowly, he walked towards the foyer, where he heard a squabble break out.

"Oy! Where is everyone?"

"Ron, you can't just burst in like that!"

"It's fine, Hermione. They're basically family. This is how we walk into my mum and dad's house."

"This isn't your mum and dad's!"

Ron and Hermione came into view, Rose and Hugo right behind them. Ron's face split into a grin when he saw Harry, though confusion clouded it when he caught sight of Harry's wand.

"Oy, were you going to hex me?" he asked irritably.

"No," Harry said, quickly stowing his wand and leading his friends to the kitchen, where his sons and wife were waiting. "I heard the door slam open and wasn't sure who it was and—you know, assumed the worst."

"I told you we couldn't just walk in like that!" Hermione hissed. "I'm sorry, Harry," she said to her friend, turning apologetically to him. "Ron's such a wart sometimes."

"I am not a wart!" Ron cried as they walked into the kitchen.

"You are a wart," Ginny said, appearing at Harry's side and embracing Hermione before giving Ron an exasperated look. "Honestly, Ron, you are one of the biggest warts I know."

"What's that even supposed to mean?" Ron demanded, stopping his tirade momentarily to greet James and Albus. "How's the auror training going?" he asked Harry's eldest, extending a hand.

"Not bad," James answered. "So far the worst bit has just been the hours. MacMillan's got us up at the worst hours. I had to be at the training office at four a.m. today."

"Ernie always was a bit intense," Hermione commented absently.

"Yeah, I don't remember doing anything like that," Ron said, raising his eyebrows. Harry coughed into his sleeve, trying to hid his laugh.

"Er, Ron?" he asked, hoping the smile wasn't breaking through. "We didn't go through training, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Ron said, taking a seat in one of the kitchen chairs. "Right. Hey, now we have two aurors and an auror-in-training!" His face lit up as he turned to Harry. "When that Josh bloke comes we have the intimidation thing covered."

"What Josh bloke?" James asked lightly. "Is someone coming tonight? I don't remember you mentioning anyone, Dad."

"Your sister's boyfriend is joining us," Harry said, trying very hard to make it look like he had known about this arrangement for a while and not just for half an hour.

James immediately straightened, his brown eyes narrowing. "She has a boyfriend?" he demanded, glaring around at his brother and the two Weasley children, who all looked away pointedly. "Al," James said tersely. "You never mentioned Lily having a boyfriend in any of your letters."

"Er," Albus stalled, looking around at his parents for support. "Well, we thought you might overreact a bit…"

"Overreact?" James demanded, standing at his full height (which was rather impressive as he towered even over Ron). "How am I supposed to react when I'm told my little sister has a boyfriend?"

"James, calm down," Ginny snapped, turning to her son with a glare reminiscent of her mother. "You're acting just like your father and both of you are making too much of this."

"Mum, Lily's got a boyfriend!" James cried, as though concerned his mother hadn't grasped what was happening.

"I'm perfectly aware of that," Ginny replied coolly. "She asked to bring him over and I said yes. And you will all," she turned and pointed at all the boys in turn, "behave and be nothing but kind to this boy. Lily really likes him."

As if on cue, Harry's youngest walked into the kitchen right then, crying out in delight when she spotted the Weasleys and her oldest brother.

"Hi, guys!" she exclaimed, hugging the Weasleys and then approaching James, who glared at her. "James?" Lily asked nervously, holding out her arms to hug him.

"You have a boyfriend!" the nineteen-year-old cried, throwing his hands up. "And he's coming here and nobody thought to bloody tell me!"

"Oh," Lily said, turning pink. "I didn't want you to worry, you see. And Josh is great, really, you're going to love him."

"We'll see about that," James muttered, finally stepping forward and wrapping his arms around his little sister.

Harry watched, half warm-hearted and half amused, as his extremely tall, still angry son hugged his small, red haired daughter. Ginny moved to his side and put her arm around his waist. Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed, looking around the kitchen at their friends and children, all together for the first time in months.

A muffled knock came from the front door, followed by a stronger one.

Nobody spoke for a minute.

James' head shot up and his scowl returned as he looked towards the foyer and then down at his blushing sister. Harry turned and locked eyes with Ron, both of them with a shade of panic in their eyes.

Ginny rolled her eyes and detached herself from Harry's side. Harry listened as his wife walked towards the front and opened the door. He caught a few snatches of the short, muffled conversation and then found himself staring at a wiry, nervous fifteen-year-old boy standing in his kitchen, his brown hair windswept and his eyes flitting around the room until settling on Lily.

Harry's daughter jumped up and ran towards the boy, clasping one of his hands in hers.

"Everyone, meet Josh!" she said.

 **Author's Note:** sorry for the slight cliffhanger (if you can even call it that? I don't know) I'll try to update this quickly. I'm only planning on this story being around five chapters or so. As always, please review and let me know what you think!


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